"Help me choose a paint color" picture thread

[aunties]

Thanks to everyone's awesome pictures, my kitchen now looks like I spent the day finger painting the walls! I have four different colors on it, pale gray, a bluish gray, and two shades of red (got to love the BM sample jars). Glad I did it. I would have been so disappointed if I had painted with the pale gray I originally planned to use. The red colors look really great with my gray floors and black appliances and counters. Elizke - hope you don't mind if I borrow your color scheme. I never would have thought of trying such a bold color until I saw your pictures. I now just have to decide which one I like best.

Also, what color did you use for the faux painting in your bathroom. I love the look of it! It looks like a gray/silver color, but you can never tell what online colors really are. I may borrow this technique for my bathroom.

TaraPA - I love the stripes in your master bedroom. Is it difficult to do? In one of the threads, you said you weren't crafty and it was just luck that it turned out so great. I disagree - you definitely have a wonderful talent for decorating! I wish you were in the area. I would invite you over for tips on my house. Your home is gorgeous!

I can't remember who posted the buttery yellow color, but I love it. I was planning on light yellow in the master bedroom, but I also bought the brighter yellow sample and will be using that one.

I feel like I have an entire design team here. Thank you to all!

 

[TaraPA]

Well aunties - take a pic of your finger painted walls so we can see them too!!!!! I have a red kitchen (oh don't get me started on those pics yet tonight) and love love love to see others.

You are really too kind (and I'm getting a swelled head) - anyone can paint a wall!!

The stripes are EASY but very very time consuming. It took the better part of about 4-5 days to do that. After choosing your color (which is the hardest part) you buy half in flat, half in semi-gloss. Ok I lie (see I have no idea what I'm doing, really...) - buy more of the flat. Paint the entire room with 2 coats of flat. Let dry at least 48 hours. Then start measuring off 10-inch sections from ceiling to floor. I'm sure there's a more presice or scientific or professional way to do this, but I seriously used a pencil, my DS's purple sparkle ruler, and the yard stick. So zero precision there. Run your painter's tape up the INSIDE of the line you drew from floor to ceiling. Your widths will look off - because you're taping only on the inside of every other one. Ok this makes no sense now that I'm typing it. When you're doing it, you'll see how it's supposed to be. You then paint the wide stripes (which will be every other one if you taped it correctly) with the semi-gloss. Or is it the thin stripes....no....wait....ok....yes you paint the WIDE stripes. 1 or 2 coats, whatever looks best to you. I pulled the tape off while still wet and viola! Tone-on-tone stripes, one dull, one shiny. Oh I mean glossy. Semi-glossy. Whatever. You people are nuts to read this & then still think I know what I'm doing!!!!!!!!

 

[binny]

Here are a few of mine in this house. Some were here when I got here but most are new.


This is my guest room I love the colour on the wall!

This is my breakfast room, the kitchen is a wheat and the darker yellow is mustard I think.

This is part of the master bath, you can see the coffee colour on the wall and the venetian blue in the mirror. The big wall that you cant see is also that ventian blue plaster. Its has a lot of depth to it and I love it!

Here is the other wall

 

[TaraPA]

binny - I love those 2 wall colors in your bathroom!

 

[binny]

Thank you

I love them too. The blue its the Ventian plaster so its really textured and looks ancient. I didnt do that one.

The bad part is that it doesnt go with the bedroom at all. I have no idea what to do in there

It doesnt look much like that anymore except the walls, they are wallpapered I have no intention of trying to take that all down the room is 22x18 Given that the rest of the wallpaper that I have found in the house was put right onto the wallpaper, I will have to put gallons of Kilz over it then repaint.

 

[aunties]

Thanks TaraPA. Your instructions actually do make sense because one of your pictures showed the taped walls. I didn't realize you used the same color paint, just in different versions. I may have to try that in my guest room. It looks so elegant. I will have to find the directions on posting pictures that were floating around a couple of days ago. I did take pictures of the walls for my scrapbook. The house has been a year long project from having my childhood home taken down and the new one put in.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[elizke]

Thanks to everyone's awesome pictures, my kitchen now looks like I spent the day finger painting the walls! I have four different colors on it, pale gray, a bluish gray, and two shades of red (got to love the BM sample jars). Glad I did it. I would have been so disappointed if I had painted with the pale gray I originally planned to use. The red colors look really great with my gray floors and black appliances and counters. Elizke - hope you don't mind if I borrow your color scheme. I never would have thought of trying such a bold color until I saw your pictures. I now just have to decide which one I like best.

Also, what color did you use for the faux painting in your bathroom. I love the look of it! It looks like a gray/silver color, but you can never tell what online colors really are. I may borrow this technique for my bathroom.

Yay Aunties! I'm glad this thread has inspired you to go for it! Of course I don't mind. I'm sure I saw it somewhere else first!! And it took me a lot longer to get up my nerve. I have been so happy with it. You'd better post pics here when you're done!

As for the faux bath, I don't remember the exact colors, but probably Walmart brand paint. DH painted the walls with a creamy greyish beige, and then I mixed a color one or two shades darker with alittle of the wall color, and added a glaze. I put it on with crumpled up plastic grocery bags. Two things are key. First, it's most important that the colors be very close. And also, I would never do it with anything larger than a bathroom. A large wall is much more difficult to make look natural.

 

[elizke]

Here are a few of mine in this house. Some were here when I got here but most are new.


This is my guest room I love the colour on the wall!

This is my breakfast room, the kitchen is a wheat and the darker yellow is mustard I think.

This is part of the master bath, you can see the coffee colour on the wall and the venetian blue in the mirror. The big wall that you cant see is also that ventian blue plaster. Its has a lot of depth to it and I love it!

Here is the other wall

Binny,

Thanks so much for posting. The more the better!

First, I really like the guest room green. I know I'll use a color like that somewhere. It's so relaxing. And I really like the coffee color too. I've been considering that for my big room. Your kitchen is nice too. I love those built-ins.

And oh, that blue wall is gorgeous! I just love it.

 

[aunties]

Thanks Elizke. I do want to try the faux finish in my bathroom. It is small so it should work ok.

Binny - I love the blue color too!

Well, I guess it is off to the hardware store for some paint today. Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[cabmom]

Some of my rooms that I need help with.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19349175@N02/sets/72157603835725124/
I'm not a fan of dark wood, however my husband won't let me paint them white.

 

[kinntj]

I have to say I love all your paint colors. We have a sage color, but now want to repaint my walls back to the natural/browns colors. After one year of this color, I'm tired of it and I just don't know how to decorate around it.

Now, I'll have to prime and repaint; which won't be until the summer. Our house in California had the two story foyer with a window up there that was hard to get at and paint. We hired professional painters for that. They did a wonderful job for the price. When we moved into this house we made sure there wasn't any walls that were two story.

Your homes are all very lovely. I wonder if your decorating sense could rub off on me, since I seem to lack in that area. I would literally have to spend a fortune and buy the whole Ethan Allen or Pottery Barn stores to make it look nice.

I'll have to look over at the granite countertops thread too. I don't like that in this new house the contracter put in formica. He put detail into everything else, but the countertops. Sigh.

Once I get everything painted, I can come here and post pictures. I hope to order curtains and new blinds for the main rooms.

 

[elizke]

Some of my rooms that I need help with.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19349175@N02/sets/72157603835725124/
I'm not a fan of dark wood, however my husband won't let me paint them white.

I'm with you on dark trim, normally. But that really is gorgeous wood in your house!! You house is very charming and has so much character.

As for choosing colors, I think that despite whatever fashions are in, unless you plan to sell in a year, start with whatever colors make you feel good. Some colors can actually make you cranky, if you're susceptible like I am. I think some of the creams and butter shades would look nice, or lighter shades in a historical line.

I really hope to see pictures when you're done!

 

[elizke]

I have to say I love all your paint colors. We have a sage color, but now want to repaint my walls back to the natural/browns colors. After one year of this color, I'm tired of it and I just don't know how to decorate around it.

Now, I'll have to prime and repaint; which won't be until the summer. Our house in California had the two story foyer with a window up there that was hard to get at and paint. We hired professional painters for that. They did a wonderful job for the price. When we moved into this house we made sure there wasn't any walls that were two story.

Your homes are all very lovely. I wonder if your decorating sense could rub off on me, since I seem to lack in that area. I would literally have to spend a fortune and buy the whole Ethan Allen or Pottery Barn stores to make it look nice.

I'll have to look over at the granite countertops thread too. I don't like that in this new house the contracter put in formica. He put detail into everything else, but the countertops. Sigh.

Once I get everything painted, I can come here and post pictures. I hope to order curtains and new blinds for the main rooms.

I know exactly what you mean about decorating around sage. Blacks work really well though.

And I've never wanted a two story room either. I always said how impractical they were. But we needed a deal and found one on this house and so here we are with these danged huge walls.

I try to stay away from threads with granite myself. I just don't see being able to afford that anytime soon. And I'm not sure it would be worth it for resale value on this house. I do love it though.

I look forward to your finished painted room photos.

 

[elizke]

As for me, I have picked up 15 more paint chips.

 

[elizke]

Ok here's the neatest thing I did with paint - tone-on-tone stripes - BUT I also need some advice for this room. When you look at the pics (master BR & sitting room) look up. Both rooms have tray ceilings that are blah. On the bedroom side I did paint part of the tray to match the walls - but now what to do on the inside of the tray? I was actually thinking of painting it Haycock from downstairs, then glazing it with a metallic paint. I originally thought to pull the spa blue from the bedding but then I thought it would be too circus-like. I'm not a fan of blue (but have a blue bathroom to post later!)

After thinking about it, I like the idea of a metallic finish up on your ceiling. I love blues myself, but I don't think I'd like it on your ceiling in that room..

I'm also not a fan of darker colors on ceilings. To me they just make the ceiling come down on you, but that's just personal preference. I would think a shade lighter than your walls, with a metallic finish would be beautiful.

 

[binny]

what about those plastic tin-looking tiles?

I am thinking of doing those in the backsplash for my kitchen when we go to finish it up



Those would look amazing on your celing and you can choose from a lot of different colours!

 

[TaraPA]

All good ideas here ladies!! I really wanted to get started on the tray ceiling today but a migraine had me out for about 3 hours, then I just couldn't get motivated to start at 3pm. Maybe tomorrow...

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

You guys are giving me lots of ideas for my new house. We just poured the slab this week.

 

[cougar242]

Tarapa - you are so creative. I am building a new home right now and just overwhelmed and nervous about making the wrong decisions. Any pointers about where to begin. I have tried to find magazines to look through, but everything is just really far out!!

 

[TaraPA]

cougar - breathe!!! I had a collection of magazine pictures before we started with my favorite ideas. Do you have allowances from your builder - and do you need to go where they say, or is it a custom home where you are making all the decsions? We built custom & I had to do all the homework & decision making - and I wanted it that way! It was a full time job. But if you have to choose from a list, it may be easier. We were given a list of dates from the builder, such as "by Feb. 1st I need your plumbing, bathroom & fixture choices." This helped or I wouldn't have known where to start. I researched in magazines & on the internet, & then visitd local showrooms where I either took samples home to decide, or picked right then & there. I knew I wanted everything traditional & neutral, so that helped. Do you tend to go towards one style - like modern, traditional, country? Start with that. Don't worry about paint colors now, doing custom paint colors will only slow down your construction . Let them do all white or off white. I'm so glad I did, because after living in the house with the furniture for a few months I changed my mind on almost all the paint colors I thought I had wanted. You can add color later with paint, towels, accessories, etc. The biggest hold-up with our house (other than red tape with the township on nit picky things) was out cabinets. We had them custom made & they took way longer than the builder thought. Without cabinets they couldn't put in the granite or appliances, or paint, so you might want to start thinking about those now.

Ok I'm rambling. If you have specific questions I'd be more than happy to help you if I can. Just breathe. There were a few nights that I woke up & ran to open the window to stick my head out because I needed air!!!